COEUR D'ALENE RIVER FISHING REPORT
January 14, 2025
Location: Coeur d'Alene River and Surrounding Fisheries
Flows:
CDA RIVER: 959 cfs at Cataldo, on the drop
ST JOE FLOW: 638 cfs at Calder, on the drop
CLARKFORK MT: 2210 cfs at St. Regis, on the drop
SPOKANE RIVER: 4730 cfs at Post falls, level
CLEARWATER RIVER: 5540 cfs at Spalding, on the drop
GRANDE RONDE RIVER: 2080 cfs at Troy
Water Temps: Low to mid 30's
Hey guys! Dust has settled after the Holidays and are into winter mode. The temps here are looking like they will start to drop into normal winter temps this week. Nighttime lows in the teens and daytime temps in the mid 20’s to low 30’s. This will make our trout fishing on the local rivers a bit tougher. We’ve had such a mild Fall and early Winter the trout fishing has actually been decent. But I think that may change with the colder conditions. It’s currently sunny and beautiful out and what the heck even if the fishing is slow it's a good day to get out of the house. I think we are supposed to have decent sunny days for a bit too.
Nymphing with smaller offerings with the cooler water temps will be the go too. Red and Black Zebra midges, Rainbow warriors, Red Copper Johns, smaller Pheasant tails, Red/Pink/Orange San Juan worms. Keep them close to the bottom and the takes will be subtle too. Any movement the indicators do set quickly. The takes during cold water can be slow and subtle.
I will start focusing on winter steelheading now. The flows are all looking pretty darn good after a push of water from recent rains. It should be good fishing here for a bit. Hoping the Grande Ronde doesn't ice up with the colder temps. After a good push of water and it cleans up, the fishing can be lights out. The Clearwater should be really good too. The conditions of all of our Steelhead rivers are looking great right now. I Just hope they don't get too cold and get icy. If you are going to swing, get the flies low and slow. A Black and Blue Killowatt is one of my favorite winter swinging flies. I’ve caught a bunch of Steelhead on that fly in very cold winter conditions. Nymphing can be very productive too. Larger Prince nymphs, 20 inchers, Pats rubber legs all good choices and an egg pattern sprinkled in here or there won't hurt either. The slower slack water is a good option as they will be conserving their energy as the water is very cold.
Our winter fly tying classes are off to a great start. We’ve increased the size of our classes to 20 students. Again, thanks for all the support on this and can’t say thank you enough for all the participation. The classes are FREE as always. All materials and tools are provided, and you even get a 10% discount on materials and tools the day of the class for participating. The classes are on Wednesdays at 10:30 and the Saturday classes are at 9:30. It’s first come first serve on our signup sheet. You can call in or stop by and put your name on the list. We run the classes through spring, usually ending about April. We’ll be having a few fun winter Brewery fly tying nights. These are fun events for anyone. It is open tying, hang out with some new or old friends and tell stories and tie some bugs. We will have some fun door prizes and other giveaways as well. Bring your own materials and tools, if you are new, we will have a few vises there to try out and get a few pointers too. The dates, time and locations below.
Trails End Brewery - January 30th Thursday from 5-8 pm in the upstairs balcony
Jeremiah Johnson - February 13th Thursday from 5-8 pm in the main restaurant
Vantage point Brewing - March 22nd Friday from 5-8 pm in the upstairs balcony